(quote from "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley)
I'd like to start with an inventory of definitions and illustrations of "dystopia":
- an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one (online Oxford dictionaries)
- an imaginary place where people lead dehumanised and often fearful lives (Merriam-Webster dictionary)
- a community or society that is undesirable or frightening (wikipedia)
I have for a long time and still do devour dystopian novels and films, fascinated by their exercise of lucid and critical thought, and loving how they cure my apathy with paranoia.
Keeping the definition open to artistic expression, the awards go to...
Novels
Most fascinating - "1984" by George OrwellTimeless statement award - "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
Humanity at its grimmest award - "Blindness" by Jose Saramago
Horrifying romance award - "Never let me go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Tangible and intricate award - "The Circle" by Dave Eggers
Movies
Terrifyingly beautiful award - "The City of Lost Children", Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1995
Bizarre satire award - "Brazil", Terry Gilliam, 1985
Funny - surreal contemporary social arrays - "The Bothersome Man", Jens Lien, 2006 & "The Lobster", Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015
Funny - surreal contemporary social arrays - "The Bothersome Man", Jens Lien, 2006 & "The Lobster", Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015
Epic award - "Metropolis", Fritz Lang, 1927
Heart warming ecology award - Wall E, Andrew Stanton, 1998
Below, one of the ending scenes in "Brazil" - Tuttle's demise:
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